The Day (also known as Antonito) is a 1960 British short fictional documentary-style film directed by Peter Finch and starring Antonion Costa.[2] It was written by Finch and Yolande Turner.
A little Spanish boy travels from his village on the Spanish island of Ibiza with his donkey and cart to the bring relatives home to see a new-born child.
Cast
Antonion Costa as the boy
Alexander Murray
Thomas Blades
Soundtrack
Music, for string quartet, percussion and flute, was by Sir Eugene Goossens.
Reception
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Antonio, a young Ibizan, travels all day to a distant town to collect his relatives and bring them back to his father's farm to see the latest baby. His reactions on the journey are described in friendly detail: the delight in flowing water and insects is carefully played against the terror of a scarecrow and a row of flapping shirts. Though John von Kotze's camerawork is too often self-consciously reminiscent of The Family of Man type of photography, and the boy's sensibility is too often interpreted in terms of images taken from Visconti and Vigo, this remains an attractive short. The qualities one associates with Peter Finch as an actor – of an elegance playing against a rough warmth – are given full play here in his new role as a director."[3]
Kine Weekly wrote: "Peter Finch has invested the simple annal with charm and an understanding of the wondering mind of a child that stamp it as a masterpiece in miniature. The photography is sensitive, the background music of Sir Eugene Goossens plaved by the Hirsch String Quartet adds appreciably to the picture's charm and the small local farmboy, Antonio, plays with complete naturalness. Very Good."[4]
Accolades
The film won awards at the 1961 Venice Festival of Children's Films, and Cork Festival in Ireland.[5]
References
↑ STEPHEN WATTS (23 April 1961). "BRITAIN'S SCREEN SCENE: Encouraging Survey, Rank's Dossier -- Footnotes on Three Luminaries". New York Times. p.129.
↑ "The Day". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
↑ Britain, I. M., "Peter Finch (1916–1977)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 1 August 2025
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